


He was not... He was just a man of his word

by Runners



Series: Untold feelings [2]
Category: Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: F/M, he did, he'll regret it, if you ever hassle Anne again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-16
Updated: 2018-07-16
Packaged: 2019-06-11 11:03:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15314097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Runners/pseuds/Runners
Summary: It'd been months since the gold fiasco, but Gilbert found out the whole truth just now. Perhaps it was not the worst that could have happened. Not to Anne at least.





	He was not... He was just a man of his word

**Author's Note:**

> I got such a lovely feedback after I published 'Remains to be seen' and since I got asked to write more I decided to do so and make a mini-series focusing on different characters or written from different point of view. I hope you'll enjoy it :) More is coming soon ;)

Gilbert was not jealous. No. Oh, no. No, he was not. He was definitely not jealous. He couldn’t be. There was nothing he should be jealous of.

Cole was just sitting so close to Anne, but hey Gilbert didn’t mind. He didn’t mind him sitting so close to Anne and holding her fiery hair. How could he be possibly jealous of that? No, Gilbert Blythe was most definitely not jealous about Cole. He also didn’t mind him braiding Anne’s hair, and putting ribbons into them. He didn’t mind them laughing, and exchanging inside jokes. He didn’t mind that Cole made Anne’s smile bright like thousands of suns.

Excuse you, Gilbert was not jealous. He had no reason to be. He was a man and if he were jealous he would have said so. But he wasn’t, because Anne had, despite what the town thought of her, many friends. So, why should Gilbert be jealous of one of them? And before you get any ideas – no – he wasn’t jealous.

He just didn’t understand – he had ~~played with~~ yanked her hair once and she had not spoken to him for months! –here Cole sat making her smile like that and Gilbert… He just found it unfair.

But he wasn't jealous, and you couldn’t tell him otherwise.

“Hi there, Doc! Why so grumpy?” Bash asked him after school, while he taught him how to prepare some of his hometown meal, “Everything okay with Anne?”

“Why does everything have to do with Anne?” Gilbert was more surprised by his outburst than Sebastian but hoped he didn’t show it. “She’s not the center of the universe, that’s all I mean.”

“So, how was school?” Bash tried again with a playful smirk, not discouraged by Gilbert’s behavior – maybe because he knew something Gilbert didn’t (or simply refused to admit).

“Good,” he said, but there was no usual cheerfulness about him. He didn’t comment on Miss Stacy’s work or wasn’t a smart aleck about medicine. “When’s Marry moving in?”

“By the end of the week.” Bash smiled dreamily at the thought. “When is Anne moving in?”

“Jesus!” Gilbert exhaled in defeat, shaking his head nervously. Bash was like an older brother to him, but sometimes he wished he could cut off his tongue –or at list the tip of it.

The next day Gilbert could focus more because Cole no longer played with Anne’s hair and actually focused on the lesson. She, though friendly, still made a fierce rival for Gilbert in class, and he was sure he saw Miss Stacy grin at them knowingly – as if there was something to know.

He was about to go home when he noticed something falling out of Cole’s bag and immediately reached for it. It was Anne. Well, not technically, but it was her face. It was a sketch of Anne that captured all her cute freckles, and grey eyes and that perfect smile – though the pencil didn’t give her lips their cherry color. 

“You can keep it,” Cole said with a smile, startling Gilbert.

“N-no, I couldn’t it’s-” he stammered nervously as if someone caught him stealing.

“I won’t tell her,” Cole chuckled, and left before Gilbert could protest. He was left alone in the classroom for Miss Stacy was tiding her stuff in the teacher’s room. He looked around making sure no one was watching him, and then glanced at the sketch, and grinned somehow dreamily.

“Gilbert, is there something you wanted to ask me?” The voice made him fold the paper in haste, and turn around. His teacher stood there visibly taken aback by his behavior, yet didn’t comment on it.

“No, sorry, I-I was just leaving.” He had never left school so abruptly before.

*

He needed to punch something. Or maybe he needed to help Bash get rid of more teeth, he wasn’t sure.  He needed to breathe - that was for sure - for he felt deep crimson take over his cheeks in pure anger.

Unlike Anne, he did not know how to put all those big and omnipotent words together to sound natural. He knew, though, the things he wanted to do even she wouldn't be able to fitly describe.

The smallest thought of what had happened – what could have happened - made him shiver timorously. He should have been there. Oh, if he had only been there, he would have...

He couldn't believe no one had told him - yes, he heard of the gold fiasco, but no one ever told him those frauds lived with Anne.

He never really liked Mrs. Lynde and her never-closing-mouth, but he wanted to praise her now. Out of all people, she was the one to tell him all that happened, while he was gone. She told him what took place in Green Gables, how Anne and Miss Marilla were hurt-

"Oh, dear God, Rachel!" Marilla scolded her friend, "No one got hurt! Don't scare poor boy like that!" She must have noticed how anxious he got.

"Don't dear-God me, Marilla! You had liars, and frauds, in your house, who gaged you and Anne, and run away!" Gilbert wanted to ask if Anne was alright - it seemed stupid, he saw her at school and knew that she was for months!

"Oh, don't make such a fuss! You're spacing him out. Yes, we were gaged, but not much more happened." Miss Marilla reddened herself, and Gilbert couldn't tell if it were out of anger at Rachel or the remainder of the unpleasant memory. 

"You're probably right," she agreed, swiftly changing the subject, "She was, after all, most heartbroken after that Billy boy accident only a while back, wasn't she, Marilla?" Oh, how she wanted to strangle her friend for her foul mouth. Her behavior was outrageous!

"She was indeed," she sighed with an eye roll. Marilla, of course, had never told Rachel of what happened to Anne's hut in the forest - she had never even told her of the secret place - she wouldn't dare. She made a promise to Anne after all.

Sensing the annoyance in Miss Cuthbert, Gilbert found it inappropriate to ask any farther questions - no matter how much he wanted to.

"How is Mr. Cuthbert?" He recalled his sickness from before he left. Despite seeing the man a few times now, Gilbert noticed he had never asked about his health - he blamed it on the fact that Mathew looked perfectly fine. The thought that something could indeed be wrong terrified him; Anne cared for him probably equally as much as he did for his father. 

"He's doing alright. Thank you, Gilbert," she nodded with a genuine smile.

*

"What for heaven's sake was that on the train, Rachel?" Mirilla scolded her friend after  Gilbert and they parted. To her shock, she laughed,

"Oh, Marilla, are you really that blind?" She waved her glove in front of Marilla's face mockingly.  "I just did your Anne a huge favor!"

"By scaring that pure boy?" Marilla would always try to deny what was between her and John but everyone knew she had always had a soft spot for him, and now she found herself having a soft spot for Gilbert - in a different way that is. Maybe it was something in Blythes or perhaps it was his gentleness towards her Anne that bewitched her.

Rachel let her hands fall down, her shoulders tense. "Oh, you're indeed blind, Marilla," she grumbled, "Couldn't you see that at every mention of Anne that boy looked like he might grow a third ear!"

"What in heaven's sake do you mean, Rachel Lynde?!"

Rachel sighed languidly, "You'll see, Marilla, you'll see..."

*

Sometimes Gilbert just couldn't help but regret his journey. He was thankful for meeting Bash, and seeing so much of the world, trying new things - even delivering a baby. Yes, he learned a lot outside of Avonlea.  Yet, he missed it, missed Anne. He recalled the time they shared in the coffee shop - their truce - he also recalled the boy who attacked him, thinking he was a threat to Anne... what was his name again? Jerry?

He often wondered if he had made the right choice leaving them - and before you get any ideas, no, he was not jealous! Jerry had just been mugged, and Anne had already enough trouble at Green Gables...

More often than that, though, he caught himself staring at the sketch Cole let him keep. The question of why Cole would draw Anne crossed his mind to many times to count now. He let it go eventually, having silently agreed with himself all the thinking would get him nowhere. Instead, he wondered when Cole returned to drawing and who taught him to do it so astonishingly. He did not know if it was the freckles or twinkling eyes or those full lips that beguiled him the most.

"What do we have 'ere, Blythe?" Bash snatched the paper out of Gilbert's grip, thankfully not tearing it in half.

"Hey!" Gilbert yelped.

“Just admit you’re a goner and I’ll stop teasin’!” But then the paper was grasped by Mary who shook her head in disbelief at her husband’s childishness.

“You’ll stop teasing because there’s hot dinner on the table, and you don’t want it to get cold, now, do you?” She folded her arms and raised an eyebrow at Bash.

“No, ma’am,” he chuckled and pecked her lips lovingly. With a sigh, she gave the drawing back to Gilbert.

“Thanks, Mary.” He offered her a genuine smile. He envied her ability to contain Bash. Yet, she turned to him with an annoyed expression that he did not expect to receive.

“Stop staring at your girl, and come to dinner, Blythe!”

“That’s my wife!” chuckled Bash, and disappeared in the dining room before she could scold him again.

*

Gilbert left the house early the next morning, eager for his extra lesson with Miss Stacy. He was still hung up on the idea of becoming a doctor, despite prolonging his stay in Avonlea. He might have put an all-nighter every now and then to study more – perhaps he did that because he still enjoyed his friendly rivalry with Anne, too.

The forest wasn’t as quiet as usual. Birds sang, welcoming spring to Avonlea, much ardently. Their tunes mixed, creating a staggering symphony of sounds. It blended with colors of first buds on the trees, fresh grass, newborn flowers, and rising sun on the horizon, making Gilbert regret Anne was not there to add her own description as he was sure her words would infuse the pulchritude of the picture in front of him with even more beauty.  

He let himself wander still having too much of free time. Unwittingly he stumbled upon a broken plank and pieces of clay. He knelt to take a closer look to only find more, and more. As he followed the track, he found much bigger pieces that looked like something. He couldn’t tell until he noticed what seemed to be a place of crime.

Could it be what Mrs. Lynde was talking about?

Gilbert did not know what this place used to be. Even though, it seemed someone tried to clean up the mess, shattered pieces of art were still around. Perhaps it was Anne’s hideout or a gathering place – had she ever had one that is.

On the ground, he found a single sheet of paper covered in ink and unfamiliar handwriting. He took a quick look, his eyes founding a name Philbert and Sapphire written quite a lot. It was a part of a story he couldn’t understand as the page seemed to have only – what he assumed to be – a middle of the text.

He put the paper back where he took it from, in case someone came back for it, and left the place to go to school – having run out of extra time now.

On his way, his mind traveled to the day Cole attacked Billy at school.  Could that be the cause of it all?

_‘She was, after all, most heartbroken after that Billy boy accident only a while back, wasn't she, Marilla?’_

_‘If you ever hassle Anne again you’ll regret it,’_ he recalled himself saying those words over a year ago. An idea popped out in his head, and he knew what to do.

*

A week later the class was called off for a day for Miss Stacy found herself stuck in bed with a cold and a fever. Normally Gilbert would go check up on her or fetch a doctor himself but, to his knowledge, Progressive Mothers had already done so.

So, he insisted on - finally – fulfilling his plan.

It didn’t take him long to find Billy. The blond was wandering near his mansion – thankfully without a rifle.

“Hey, bud,” said Gilbert with a wicked smirk gracing his features as he recalled Billy calling all his pals that.

“Oh, hi, Gil-”He was never meant to finish that sentence as his nose collided with Gilbert’s clenched fist. The punch sent him to the ground, right into the dirt with a whimper, and a soft cry. 

“Told you, you’d regret it,” Gilbert muttered as he walked off, his knuckles aching a bit for punching a bone but he didn’t care. He never thought of himself as a violent person but this… This felt good.

In truth, Billy had already got a punishment for his actions from Cole, but Gilbert did not care. All he cared about was keeping his promise- as he was a man of his word – and he did.

When the next day everyone went back to school, they were shocked to find Billy with a broken nose. While most of the students kept asking Billy questions, Gilbert stuck to a simple, meaningful glare from where he was sitting – like the one he once shot Mr. Philips all those months ago.

At the same time, he felt someone’s stare at him, and turned to see Anne unashamedly boring her eyes into his figure – she must have figured out what occurred the day before. And when Gilbert glanced at her – with his face much more calmed and relaxed – he received the most gorgeous and thankful of all her smiles. Had he known he would be given one he would have broken Billy’s nose sooner.

At that moment that they shared, he could no longer remember Jerry’s protectiveness, or Cole’s hair-styling, or even Bash’s teasing. He could only think of that one smile, and he had a feeling no one else had seen it before. He knew that something so special would have to be kept for a special occasion – and dealing with a bully was certainly one.

God, Bash was right –Gilbert would never admit that aloud - he was gone over a lady.

 


End file.
